4S2 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. 29, 1902. 
quite new to him, and with Sir John, who liked such 
sport as little, decided to make a rapid run to Grand 
Cascapedia on the Quebec side of Chaleurs Bay, where 
cascades, rapids and rough waters gave a better prospect 
for such angling as they were accustomed to in Scot- 
land, Ireland and Norway. Mowat and an Indian ran 
them down the forty miles in a few hours, found them 
a team to New Richmond at the mouth of Cascapedia, 
and returned to act as guides to tlie Princess's party at 
Indian House. 
Mr. Wilmot, who had always a keen eye to the mam 
chance, had bought out a squatter on the Quebec side 
of the river, and the Land Office had notified him that 
the transfer of title was in progress, consequently he 
considered himself riparian owner of all the water in 
front of the land, Avhich included Indian House and the 
best pools on that part of the river where the royal party 
was encamped. He hit on a most ingenious plan to in- 
gratiate himself with the Marquis, in the hope of getting 
some recognition from the Duke as a brother scientist, 
for as Mowat told it, "Sammy had a gude conceit o' 
himsel', and stood in no need of the Hielandman's 
prayer." He and his son, with two Indians, landed on 
the bank about a hundred yards below De Winton's 
camp, and with a tape line and note book proceeded to 
measure distances, drive stakes and make notes. with_ all 
the cmpressemcni of a civil enarineer who had no time 
to spare. Seeing that De Winton, with the visual 
insouciance of the true Englishman, took not the slight- 
est notice of his antics, as Mowat described his move- 
Tuents. Sammy played his trump card, and called to_ his 
son in strident tones. "Chawles, bring the theodotile." 
Charley shouldered a survevor's compass fixed on the top 
of a folding tripod, and carried it to his father, who set 
It up and "took sights'" right across De Winton's tent. 
This roused the curiositv. or. rather, perhaps the pug- 
nacity, of the blase Englishman, who lazily strolled down 
and Avatched Sammy's antics — thus Mowat. at which 
Wilmot winced while he laughed. Finding that De Win- 
ton would not "rise to his fly," the Superintendent was 
forced to open the conversation, from which he expected 
at least an invitation to dinner, and nerhaps a presen- 
tation to the Duke, for "Sammy had a healthy ambi- 
tion." as Mowat humorously asserted. At this point it 
was a liberal education in humorous narrative and dra- 
matic art to hear and sec Mowat relate the conversation 
that ensued between the Suoerintendent and De Win- 
ton. The ingenuitv with which he would iranrovise, imi- 
tating to the life the Major's dudeism and Wilmot's at- 
tempts at dignity of manner and expression, would have 
forced St. Anthony to roar with laughter in the midst 
of his most devout orisons. The writer regrets that 
these cannot be reproduced on paper, and he would need 
the humor of Mowat himself to adequately describe them. 
All he can attemnt is to give, in a prosaic wav. the main 
facts as he recalls them. Wilmot had a peculiar man- 
nerism, which all who have known him. socially or 
oflficially, will remember with a smile. In conver'^ing, he 
"struck an sttitude" — ^thc left foot advanced, which he 
trotted in uni'^on with the rhythmic swing of his pince- 
nez to emphasize his points. Mowat's mimicry of these 
"•as a niece of natural acting that the writer's old friend, 
Ned .Sothern could not surpass. 
Wilmot — "Er— um — ^mv name is Wilmot — Samuel 
Wilrnot. Esq. You h?-''? heard of me. perhaps. I am 
the Sunerintendent of FishcuHure in Canada." 
De Winton. — "Aw. yas ! Laying out your pond, I 
s'pnce?" 
"Not a pond. I shall dam the brook inland to make 
mv pond. I intend erectinsr a large and sightly structure 
for a hatching house, with a convenient landing just 
here." 
"Aw, yas! But see here! Doncher know you'll have 
to defer all this until the Princess leaves the river? You 
can't intrude on the Princess and the Duke, doncher 
know !" 
"Certainly not. A great deal of preliminary work has 
to be done, and meantime the Princess and the Duke 
and j'-ourself are quite welcome to fish my pools as long 
as vou please." 
"Aw, thanks, awfully ! Didn't know it was your river ! 
Sorry the Princess didn't ask your permission, doncher 
know ! As it is. you'll have to arrange with Mr. Mowat, 
Avho will be here to-morrow." 
Saying this in the contemptuous manner that makes 
the impudence of the worst dude impressive, the A. D. C. 
turned on his heel and took no further notice of the 
Superintendent than if he were one of his Indians. Wil- 
mot made his way to Mowat's camp and found that he 
had already returned from sending off the Marquis and 
Sir John. To him he related the incident, and expres.sed 
his disgust of De Winton's cavalier treatment, all of 
which was nuts and ale to Mowat, Avhom Sammy con- 
sidered as h> subordinate — because Dee Side hatching 
house was in his care. 
****** 
AVihin ea'^y reach of this camp are several good pools 
at the mouth of Patapedia above, and two or three be- 
low. These afforded fishinsr for the whole party, which 
alwavs met- at dinner at 6 o'clock. This dinner was pre- 
pared by the chef and his assistant, and was served in 
two messes; the Princess, the Duke and his daughters, 
the Marquis and Sir John forming one, while De Win- 
ton, with two or three young officers of the staff, the 
other. Mowat and the Indians preferred their own cook- 
ing and took their meals as usual, al fresco. The Major 
had several tim.es asked Mowat to join his mess, but he 
alwavs made some excuse; he had so much to arrange 
- for the morrow and so many instructions to give the 
Indians, etc. One evening after mess, the Maior came on 
Mowat and the Indians at dinner, and the following col- 
loauv ensued : 
"Mowat, I have several times asked vou to join our 
mess, but you have always made some frivolous excuse. 
Doncher know. I think you prefer the society of the 
Indians to ours." 
"Oh. no, Major; but you see. I'm master of ceremonies 
here. I would cut a poor fienre at your table, where the 
formalities spoil my appetite." 
"Oh, come ! You have som.e other reason than that. 
You can be as much at ease with us as you can here, if 
you choose to put on your society manners. Tell me 
your reason for preferring to mess with Indians." 
"Well, Major, if you insist on knowing, I prefer my 
food clean !" 
"What do you mean? Do you think your food any 
cleaner than ours?" 
"Well, I don't know, but I saw your chef making the 
coffee for dinner with water the potatoes were boiled 
in.' 
"The lazy scoundrel ! I will see to this," and he left 
in hot haste to lecture the chef on his dirty cooking. 
Mowat was a fairly read man for his opportunities, but 
he was not likely to know that the king of cooks and 
prince of gourmets — ^Brillat Savarin — made the discovery 
that coffee is much improved if the decoction is made 
with water in which potatoes have boiled ; nor is it likely 
that the better educated A. D. C, was aware that his chef 
was following the approved mode of the greatest cordon 
bleu of modern times. V. 
A Pearl River Camp. — VL 
""^ ; " ~. ^{Continued from fiage 412.) 
We had fish enough and to spare next morning, so 
concluded to take the guns and go part of the way home 
with Bob and hunt back to camp. 
Crossing the lake to the other side, we found ourselves 
in the large loop, or island, formed by the lake, and 
wondered how our friend had crossed the other end, as 
he was compelled to do, to reach that part on which we 
were camped. This was soon explained, as he led us to 
the lower end, where it opened into the river, and there 
we found a large tree which had fallen across the lake 
just where it emptied into the river, forming a bridge. 
In crossing we noticed that the tree lay well for fishing, 
either out into the river or back into the lake, and con- 
cktded that we would come over again in the afternoon 
and try this new territor}'. 
As soon as we got into the woods Bob made us slip 
along quietly and soon located a squirrel, which he killed 
for us. A little further along we treed two, both of 
which we bagged after some wild shooting on the part of 
the younger boys, who had insisted upon having a try. 
We were tremendously excited by finding a real bear 
track, which Bob showed us in a soft bit of the swamp, 
and felt very much relieved that it was so far away from 
our camp. We sighted another squirrel that led us an 
exciting chase, and finally escaped, after receiving our 
whole broadside. 
"Old fellow, and tough as rawhide," was Bob's consol- 
ing explanation of our failure to bag it. 
The woods began to thin out now, and we prepared to 
turn back, leaving our visitor to continue on home, but 
he remembering that we were near a bee tree, which he 
had located on a former hunt, took us to see it. It was 
a large white oak, and the bee den was in a limb high up. 
It was the first bee tree we had ever seen, and very inter- 
esting. We tried hard to see the bees, as Bob would point 
up, calling out excitedly; "There! see, see! There they 
are," but. although we would occasionally say that we 
did see them, it was probably by faith, and not sight, as 
a cow would have looked small up as high as we were 
trying to see bees. 
Reluctantly bidding our friend adieu, and urging him 
to visit us again, we turned back toward camp. 
Circling round out into the woods, we hunted over new 
territory on the retttrn, and soon had two more squirrels. 
Hearing some one chopping with an ax, not far out of 
the line we were traveling back, we concluded to be so- 
ciable and visit them. As we approached nearer we 
heard the chopper also singing. Drawing near we saw 
an old colored man chopping on a felled tree, keeping time 
with the ax strokes in the following song: 
"Hard labor, hard labor. 
Hard labor makes de maa 
Mammy tole me. 
Daddy showed me, 
Hard l^bor makes de man." 
Over and over he sang the .song, two words to- the 
stroke, imtil we drew near enough to attract h-:s attention, 
when he ceased work. 
"Mawnin', 3'oung gentlemen," he said, taking off his 
hat and scraping the sweat from his forehead with a 
crooked and calloused forefinger. "Huntin' is you ; I 
hope you has good luck." 
We replied to his salutation and exhibited our squirrels 
in answer to his question. 
"Wha' you stoppin' at?" was his next query. 
We told him we were camping out, and described the 
location of our camp, and also the fact that we had had 
a visitor, and had accompanied him part of the way on 
his return home. 
"Oh, yes," he said, "I know young Marse Bob and he 
pa, too. I work some foh his pa mos' every spring, 
plowin' an' plantin', an' sometimes later in de season 
choppin' cotton." 
Talking further with him, he said he lived back a little 
toward the edge of the swamp, where he had a little 
cabin and a few acres of land. 
"Yo' all kin des go out dah." he said in a hospitable 
manner, "an' my ole woman will be proud to give yo' a 
drink of 'simmon beer. We makes hit ourselfs, an' hit is 
shore good." 
We thanked him but declined the beer, and then asked 
if he thought his wife would sell us a little bread. 
"Suttinly. sub. ef she got hit. We'll des pintedly go 
.see." said he, dropping his ax and starting off. "Hit 
won't be nothin' but cawn bread, though; kin vou all eat 
dat?" 
We assured him. with a suspicious earnestness, that we 
could eat any kind of bread. 
Arriving at his cabin, we found everything neat and 
clean, and the "old woman" as kind and hospitable as 
heart could wish. When we had been duly presented as: 
"Foah j'oung gentlemen what is campin' out an' enjoyin' 
deyselves," the old lady gave us a hearty welcome. She 
set chairs out on the little vine-covered porch and brought 
us fresh water from the well. 
"An' you little boys is campin' out; sleepin' in de 
woods all bv you'selves?" she said. "Pears like you 
mamas would be skeered to 'low you to do hit. Ain't you 
'fraid of de bears, wildcats and varmints?" 
When assured that we were not and that we had plenty 
of wieapons to protect ourselves, she said iti % nfiai^i^er 
that indicated more desire than faith: 
"I sho' hope dey won't nothin' git none of you, but hit 
is pow'ful reesky." ^ 
The old man then stated the special object of our visit, 
considerately adding: 
"Yo' know hit des nach'lly make young folks hongry 
to git out in de woods, att' dey done et up all de nice 
bred what dey bring wid 'um." 
"I got de pone on a bakin' for dinnah," said she, "atl 
hit a big one, 'cause de ole man is a scandlus eatah. Yo' 
is welcome to dat soon as hit done, an' I make ash cake 
foh ouh dinnah." 
We visited while the pone was cooking, the good old 
woman hurrying it up as much as possible, and when 
done took our leave, carrying it swung in the least soiled 
handkerchief belon.ging to our party, 
The old people gave us a cordial invitation to come and 
see them again, and urged us to be sure and let them 
know if they could do anything for us, or if we got in any 
trouble. 
Congratulating ourselves on having such kind and 
friendly neighbors, we laid a straight course for camp, 
and by walking fast and making no stops, arrived there 
with our bread yet warm and fresh. 
The fish being cleaned and ready to cook, we did not 
stop to prepare any squirrels for dinner. Fresh corn 
bread and fish we considered good enough for anybody, 
and were soon enjoying our dinner. The bread was ex- 
cellent, and there was quite enough for all. 
"I certainly am thankful that the old man is such a 
'scandlus eatah,' " said Will, as he finished the third gen- 
erous piece of corn bread. 
After dinner we cleaned our squirrels and put them in 
our refrigerator — a covered bucket set in the spring — and 
then all hands laid down for a well-earned rest. It was 
mid afternoon when we awakened and concluded that we 
had made up the lost sleep of the night before. After 
some discussion it was unanimously decided that we 
would forego our trip to the fallen tree to fish the river 
and mouth of the lake as intended, and just loaf and have 
a good time the rest of the day, as our larder was stocked 
for at least two meals. It was almost like a holiday from 
school after our constant application to the task of prond- 
ing our daily bread, or, rather, meat. Since finding the 
alligator tracks and noting the size of the alligator gars 
which infested the lake, some of which we had seen that 
were fully five feet long — we had not felt much interest 
in the delightful pastime of swimming, but Bob had as- 
sured us that we need have no fear of them whatever, 
provided we kept moving while in the water. They 
woud, he said, attack a man lying perfectly still in the 
water, but by striking or splashing, they could be fright- 
ened away. Knowing that he had lived all his life on the 
river and having confidence in his judgment, we con- 
cluded to go swimming in the lake. We were soon in 
and engaged in a contest to see who could swim across 
the lake the greatest number of times without stopping 
to rest, it being about fifty yards -wide at our landing. 
The second trip across I met with a slight accident that 
effectually put me out of the contest. About two-thirds of 
the distance had been crossed, all swimming abreast a short 
distance, when something raked me along the outside edge 
of the right thigh, causing a .smart that showed the skin 
had been broken, and I immediately concluded that it was 
the attack of an alligator. I had no trouble in calling to 
mind Bob's instructions, and knew that I ought to thrash 
about in the water and shout, but could do neither the 
one nor the other. In an almost fainting condition I 
paddled weakly on, managing to reach a log at the bank 
that extended out some distance, on to which I climbed. 
The other boys, turning to swim back, called to me, but 
I only replied : 
"Tired." 
As I recovered, the thought came that I ought to have 
told them, and prevented their taking the risk of swim- 
ming back, but before I had recovered the power of 
speech it was too late. 
On examination I found my hurt to be slight, consist- 
ing of two or three long scratches, which even in my 
excitement showed plainlj' to be caused by some sunken 
limb or snag extending near enough to the surface to 
graze me as I swam over. The boys swam over and 
turning back to my side, when slipping into the water 1 
returned with them, swimming carefully "dog fashion," 
feeling for the snag. I found it, a jagged limb extend- 
ing up from some sunken tree, and turning my head 
marked its exact position by a tree on each bank. 
My companions had engaged in the sport of scaring me 
half to death with snake alarms on several occasions, 
knowing my great fear of all the reptile tribe, and it now 
occurred to me that perhaps here was a chance to retaliate. 
On one occasion they had placed a dead snake inside 
the tent and persuaded me to go after a gun. I secured 
the gim and turned to leave the tent, and then discover- 
ing the snake, apparently in a position to strike, dived 
head fir-t through the side of our domicile, demolishing 
the entire north wall and scratching my face badly. An- 
other time Will coiled a short piece of rope under that 
portion of the bed on which I slept, leaving the end out, 
and after we had all settled down for the night began to 
slowly pull it from under me, crying snake in an excited 
manner, which caused me to take to the woods barefooted 
and very scantily attired. 
As their fear of alligators was fully as great as mine 
of snakes, it looked as though mv opportunity had come. 
As we rested a few mo-nents after reaching the bank I 
spoke of a cool spot in the water that was probably caused 
bv .1 submerged spring, and invited them to fall in line 
behind me and I would guide them over it. Taking my 
bearings carefully, I started across, followed by my un- 
suspecting companions, and coming to where the snag 
was, swam high, passing over without a scratch. Turn- 
ing on my back so as to have a good view, I swam on. 
Will was next, then Walter, Jim being last. The snag 
caught Will fairly in the groin, and as he described it 
afterward, he felt teeth meet through his body. For a 
minute he came as near walking on the water as ever a 
bnv did. while the woods rang with his frightened yells. 
Walter was too astonished to change his course, and a 
moment later he grounded on the snag. His perform- 
ance was very similar to Will's, only, if possible, he was 
more noisy. Jim turned back and swam for dear life, 
also yelling and splashing, and as I was shouting at the 
top of my voice to stimulate them and keep up the scare, 
it wais a merry din. yentitre to say that «nle?3 a can- 
